Just five hours after having his much-anticipated signing confirmed by Chelsea, Emiliano Martinez was walking out at Stamford Bridge to play for his new team against Brighton. Having been thrown straight into the starting XI by manager Xabi Alonso, however, it quickly became clear that he alone cannot solve their defensive problems. The 33-year-old said he was "fit and ready" to play despite his £7.5m signing from Aston Villa being announced so close to kick-off.
In reality, the Argentina international had already trained with his new team-mates after completing his move before Friday's registration deadline, with public confirmation delayed for marketing reasons. There was little blame attached to the goalkeeper for any of the three goals conceded in their 4-3 victory, unlike on Monday, when Robert Sanchez was clearly at fault for the first goal, and arguably the second, in Chelsea's 3-2 win at Fulham. Either way, that is now five goals conceded in two games.
Their impressive new-look attack is the reason, despite the leaky defence, they have a 100% record nonetheless. "A win is a win," Martinez told Sky Sports after his debut. "I know it wasn't a perfect game.
But in the end, winning and moving on is what we need. The front three is amazing. When we go forward, we can hurt teams.
We had a lot of chances to finish the game. Cole Palmer and Joao Pedro had chances to kill the game. At the back, we need to bring the goals down." Ex-Premier League goalkeeper Shay Given, who is a pundit on Sunday's Match of the Day, described Martinez as a "brilliant signing".
"Martinez is interesting," Given told BBC Sport. "He's only just signed but Alonso's thought 'I'm not messing about, I'm getting him straight in the team'. The manager clearly thinks he needs someone of that sort of stature." It was, ultimately, victory in chaos, but Alonso will need to find a way to control matches if Chelsea are to become title challengers, with a trip to Arsenal next.
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